Spears rose from poverty to own two gas stations

John Robert Spears, â€œBig Johnâ€, passed away December 6, 2012. He was born on March 15, 1933 to John R Spears and Irene Lampkin Spears. John was owner and operator of the Chevron Service Station on Hwy 35 North and New Braunfels.

John “Big John” Robert Spears worked hard his entire life. As a child, he picked cotton beside his father, and when his father died beside him in the field, he became the man of the family, supporting his mother and nine siblings. His education ended with third grade, but by the time he died, he had owned his own businesses and was able to give his children all the opportunities he never had.

Spears died Dec. 6 at age 79 from kidney failure.

He left his birthplace of Harwood as a teenager to live in San Antonio, and got a job fixing cars at a Texaco station. The job was significant not only because the woman he worked for recognized his talent and encouraged him to open his own shop, but also because it led him to the woman he would marry, his daughters said.

“My dad used to work in a gas station that was in back of my mom's house,” oldest daughter Cheryl Gray said. “He would walk through the alley, and he'd talk to her through the fence. My mom got in trouble by her father when she was caught talking to him,” and she was banned from doing so.

But as soon as she graduated from high school, the couple ran off and got married in Mexico, because at the time it was against the law for an interracial couple to marry in the U.S. Sylvia Spears was Hispanic, and Big John Spears was African American. “I know my father was arrested once for being married to my mom here in San Antonio,” Elaine Spears said.

But Big John Spears was successful in his work, Gray said. He bought the Gulf station at South New Braunfels Avenue and Interstate 35, which later became a Chevron, and ended up with an Exxon as well. Gray said she remembers living in a house behind the first station for a few years until her father was able to move the family to the Highlands area.

“He was all about working and working hard and being able to care for yourself. He hated lazy people,” she said, adding that she and her siblings had long chore lists as children.

Through the years Big John Spears prospered. The family owned land in the Hill Country where they hunted. He taught his children marksmanship, and they had contests to see who could hit the most cans. They spent weekends at their lake house, and in high school the children drove their own cars.

One of his favorite hobbies was building cars and racing at Alamo Dragway, which closed in 2004.

“I loved my dad,” Gray said. “I learned to be honest, I learned to work hard and I learned that family was most important. He always took care of us.”